Location: Johannesburg (Woodmead), South Africa 

Domain: Corporate Affairs & Engagement 

Reporting to: Chief Sustainability, Corporate Affairs and Engagement Officer 

Mission

The Media Relations and External Communications Manager is responsible for protecting and enhancing the company’s reputation through strategic external communication, proactive media engagement and stakeholder relationship management. This role leads the development of external communication strategies that strengthen the company’s visibility, credibility and influence across key stakeholder groups. 

Key Responsibilities

1.    Media Relations & Press Office

• Strategy & Outreach: Develop and execute a robust media relations strategy to position L’Oréal as a leader in Beauty, Sustainability and Beauty Tech.
• Press Management: Act as the primary point of contact for local media. Manage press inquiries, draft and distribute press releases, holding statements, opinion pieces and executive briefing notes.
• Executive Positioning: Identify high-level speaking opportunities for the senior leadership to strengthen L’Oréal’s corporate voice.
• Storytelling: Identify compelling stories within the business that support the company’s positioning and reputation objectives and translate these into meaningful external communication, thought leadership and stakeholder engagement opportunities. 
• Prepare spokespeople and executives for interviews, speaking engagements and media appearances
• Networking: Build and maintain a strong network of journalists, editors, and opinion leaders across business, lifestyle, tech, and sustainability beats.

2. Corporate Reputation & Crisis Management

• Reputation Monitoring: Monitor local media coverage and social conversations to identify risks or opportunities for the Group.
• Crisis Comms: Manage crisis and Issues communication in collaboration with leadership and relevant stakeholders, ensuring consistent and aligned messaging.

3. Content Creation & Digital Amplification

• Storytelling: Transform complex corporate data into compelling stories for external audiences.
• Digital Presence: Manage the local corporate digital footprint (Corporate Website) and collaborate with the internal comms team to ensure 360-degree alignment.
• Event Management: Lead corporate media events, including press conferences, media roundtables and corporate  launches

4. Strategic Engagement

• Stakeholder Mapping: Identify and engage with key external stakeholder groups that are most critical to strengthening the company’s reputation, relevance and business objectives. 
• Identify appropriate platforms, channels, events, speaking opportunities and media engagements to ensure effective stakeholder engagement and storytelling.
• Monitor stakeholder sentiment, industry conversations and reputational trends to identify emerging opportunities and risks 
• Cross-Functional Support: Provide strategic comms advice to HR, Sustainability and the divisions for corporate-level topics.
• Coordinate with external agencies, PR partners and service providers where applicable.

Professional Requirements

• Education: Degree in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, or related field 
• Experience: 5 to 8 years’ experience in Media Relations or Corporate Communications, preferably within an FMCG, multinational environment, or with a top-tier PR agency.
• Network: Existing relationships with South African and Sub-Saharan Africa business and lifestyle media is a significant advantage.

Skills:

• Exceptional writing and editing skills in English.
• Strong strategic thinking with the ability to navigate complex, fast-paced environments.
• Proven experience in crisis communications and issue management.
• Strong understanding of the South African socio-economic and media landscape.

Key Competencies

• Agility & Resilience: Ability to pivot strategies in response to a changing media landscape.
• Networking Guru: Naturally collaborative with a high degree of emotional intelligence.
• Strategic Vision: Able to connect local initiatives to the global Group strategy.
• Proactivity: A "self-starter" who identifies opportunities before they become obvious.

Who We Are

L’Oréal is present in 150 markets on five continents. For more than a century, L’Oréal has devoted itself solely to ‘Create beauty that moves the world’; it is now the industry world leader with €42 billion consolidated sales. Together, we solve complex challenges at scale, while making sure we stay committed to making the world a more inclusive and a better place for everyone & our planet.

We’re committed to guaranteeing inclusive recruitment processes and to advocating for hiring and promoting each candidate in an ethical and equitable way. The Group strictly prohibits discrimination against any applicant for employment because of the individual’s gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, visible and/or invisible disabilities, socio-economic and/or multicultural origins, health conditions, age, religion, or any other characteristics protected by law.